☐ Six K-POP rookies who will be performing at the 'Asian New Artists Showcase,' the pre-stage of 'Asia Song Festival,' were announced. Next generation pin-up boys ‘X-5’, a 7-member girl group ‘RaNia’, Korea's first multiracial girl group ‘ChoColat’, so-called female 2PM ‘April Kiss’, SONY Music's first boy idol group ‘HITT’, and acoustic guitar singer & song writer ‘leeSA’ are these rookies.

As the new artists such as 2PM, SHINee, Kara, U-kiss, and Rainbow built their presence through this stage immediately after their debut and became the Hallyu stars, 'Asian New Artists Showcase' has been called the 'stage of dream' by Korean rookies. This stage which targets noteworthy new artists of Asia every year provides the best promotion opportunity through which performers can show their potential as the next generation K-POP stars to 50,000 on-site fans and to 1.5 billion viewers through overseas broadcasting to 40 countries all over the world.

☐ X-5 is a five-member boy group which debuted in April 2011 with a single album ‘XENOS,’ and its title song 'The Show Is Over' was produced by Rhymer who made hit songs such as 'Tok Tok' of Mighty Mouth and 'Broken' of Seo, In-guk. This title song, which features the moment of falling in love, break-up, and betrayal with mature voice of X-5, has gained a lot of popularity from fans. This group released subsequent songs, 'Fantasy' and 'Don't come near me', and was invited to 'K-POP Super Live Concert' and 'Music Bank in Tokyo K-POP Festival,' and 'Korea Music Wave,' which were regarded as the stage for Hallyu stars only, leaving strong impression. The name of this group is the combination of the first character X from XENOS and number 5, meaning the group of 5 special members. With their outstanding visual, e.g., their average height is 186cm, X-5 distinguishes themselves at home and abroad. In addition, the leader Ghun played the part as a child actor of Eric of KBS soap opera, 'Spy Myeong Wol,' giving impressive performance. X-5 which is under the preparation for next album will be proving its star quality to Asian fans through 'Asian New Artists Showcase' of 'Asia Song Festival' on October 15 and it is expected that this group will spur efforts to be global stars.

☐ RaNia, which is a seven-member multinational girl group which debuted the album ‘DR FEEL GOOD’ in April and garnered much attention, will also be performing at the Asian New Artists Showcase. As their album was co-produced by famous song writer Teddy Riley who produced 'Dangerous' for Michael Jackson and also a producer for Lady Gaga, Spice Girls, and Pussycat Dolls, RaNia gained attention even before debut. RaNia, in their 5th month from debut, is gaining popularity overseas as well by performing showcase in 11 Asian countries such as Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Recently, this group was invited and performed at the 'Once Malaysia' hosted by Malaysia Prime Minister and gave the main performance with the famous rapper Nelly from US. Nelly gave the highest compliment from him that it seemed safe for this group to make an immediate presence in the world music market. Meanwhile, the entertainer Boom said during the MBC program 'Radio Star' that RaNia was the president in Korean army, emphasizing this group's popularity. RaNia will release the 2nd single album this October and this group's amazing performance at the Asian New Artists Showcase is highly expected.

☐ ChoColat, which caused a sensation in K-POP world, will also be appearing in 'Asia Song Festival.' This August, the bi-racial group ChoColat debuted with an album 'Syndrome.' Members of ChoColat had prepared for debut in Korea for a long time to become the representative K-POP artists. Their title song ‘Syndrome’ is a dance music where retro style melody is combined with club music and electronic music. The group's 'Frame dance' is attracting strong attention and fans all over the world sometimes upload their UCC to YouTube to imitate this dance, proving great vogue. The ‘Asian New Artists Showcase' is deemed the opportunity for ChoColat to grow into the global group who will be leading K-POP fever.

☐ The stage of April Kiss, a six-member group which aroused sensation as it was called the 'Female 2PM,' is gaining attention. April Kiss released the single album 'WANNABE' and has actively been performing with its title song ‘Hello Bus.' Members who have various careers as super model, advertisement model, magazine model, and musical actress show good appearance of tall height and nice body. Especially, it was known that this group's youngest member Sarah is fluent in four languages and a student of Thailand International University. Sara, who is a vocal of April Kiss, is a mixed-blood girl from German father and Thai mother who was born in Germany and grew in Thailand until she became an elementary school student. She can not only speak English but also Germany, Thai, and Korean, and she is majored in Finance in Assumption University of Thailand. It is expected that Sara will play a pivotal role for April Kiss's overseas presence. And, this group's main vocal appeared in the movie "A Bittersweet Life" and showed her explosive singing. These stories prove that fans will have more expectation over April Kiss which will be appearing in 'Asia Song Festival.'

☐ A six-member idol group HITT is the first male idol group produced by SONY Music, the largest label in the world. HITT is the abbreviation of ‘Here Is The Top,’ having their resolution to make a hit in global market. HITT　which debuted this July with a mini album and title song 'Good Night' is also gaining attention and popularity in West Europe. The title song 'Good Night' which combines electronic rhythm and contemporary R&B is listed in the VIVA on-line clip chart of Germany, exhibiting HITT's presence as a representative K-POP rookie. Also, famous Hallyu magazine named 'TRENDY,' which is known to do an interview with top idols only such as CNBLUE, SUPER JUNIOR, 2PM, and Wonder Girls had an interview with HITT, showing this group's increasing popularity. HITT showed their resolution to establish their presence over fans of entire world through showy and intense stage at 'Asian New Artists Showcase.'

☐ leeSA is the famous acoustic guitar singer and song writer who is staging mainly in Indi stage nearby Hongik Univ. Her UCC to play 'Viva la Vida' of Coldplay, 'Tik Tok' of Ke$ha, 'Teardrop' of Massive Attack, 'Run Devil Run' of Girls' Generation with acoustic guitar cover gained big hit at YouTube. Her UCC of 'Tik Tok' recorded 150,000 views on the daily YouTube chart, being listed in the 2nd place and exhibiting explosive popularity. Sweden's Music Software company 'Propellerhead’ selected leeSA as the promotion artist for 2011, for the first time out of Korean artists. This year, leeSA released a single album ‘Blackout’ and project album ‘leeSA wiv Hcube’ and showed active performance. Her unique music is expected to attract attention from all over the world through 'Asian New Artists Showcase.'

☐ '2011 Asia Song Festival' co-hosted by Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange, UNICEF, and Daegu City will be held as the event for IAAF World Champions Daegu 2011. Asia's top-level artists will be performing and make the chance to exchange culture among participating countries. The line-up of performers such as SUPER JUNIOR, GIRL’s GENERATION, Lee, Seung-ki, from Korea; Perfume, AAA from Japan; Peter Ho (何潤東) from Taiwan; Zhoubichang (周笔畅, Leo Ku(古巨基) from China; Tata Young from Thailand was announced, and 6 K-POP rookies will be performing at the Asian New Artists Showcase, and thereby ‘2011 Asia Song Festival’ is expected to be the splendid event more than ever.

☐ '2011 Asia Song Festival' is the international charity festival without fee and will begin its 2nd ticket download on September 30 (Friday). For further details of ‘2011 Asia Song Festival’, visit homepage (www.asf.or.kr). Overseas fans can use translated homepage in English, Japanese, and Chinese. Also, Twitter(@asongfe) and Facebook are operated in order to facilitate communication with fans.